artist’s statement

“Suddenly, I can see into myself… I can make out the depths of the layers of my flesh; I feel zones of pain… rings, poles, plumes of pain… There are certain flashes that are exactly like ideas. They make me understand - from here, to there.”
Paul Valéry

The physical act of making is a collaboration with the physicality of my body. My works are small objects in a busy world. Smallness inspires intimacy of looking - a marriage in disgust, like swallowing cum. Eating leads to defecation like pleasure leads to exhaustion and pain. My work explores these processes of transgression and affliction, reflecting my existence as a chronically-ill, gay transsexual. 

I use methods of layered mark-making and translucence to draw attention to the inner workings of the body and the body-as-self. Through layering, boundaries begin to dissolve, bringing ambiguity into play. Whether layering with thinned paint, tracing papers, or additive sculptural techniques, the process always works to inform the context of boundaries, both social and somatic. Like Paul Valéry’s pain, so too does the work open up new vistas of other and self. Through manipulation of formal qualities, my works inspire a visceral reaction, instilling bodily awareness. The intimacy required of the viewer is a mirror to the intimacy of the work - a prolonged eye contact, a meeting of mouths.